Our RV Adventures

This morning started out slow because we had a scheduled power outage this morning for some maintenance here in the RV park. At our rig the power went off about 7:30 and then didn’t come back on until about 9:30.

Then about 12:30 Jan and I headed out to do some errands.

Our first stop was the Wal-Mart where Jan got a pedicure and I got a haircut, my first since we left Houston the first week of February.

Jan said I needed one because my hair was getting ‘fluffy’ in the back. Hey, with as little hair as I have, fluffy is good.

Isn’t fluffy the same as ‘full-bodied’?

I then did some shopping there, and as soon as Jan was finished with her pedicure, we drove over to Sam’s Club to pick up our prescriptions.

Then it was home just in time to go right back out at about 2:30 with Nick and Terry to meet Tom and Barb Westerfield at Lindo Michoacan, our favorite Las Vegas Mexican place. Usually both the food and the service are excellent, but this time just the food. I think the problem was that the first waiter took our order and then got off work. The second one didn’t know we wanted separate checks, who ordered what, etc.

But we had a good time anyway.

After the meal we drove out to Nick’s Mail Service in Boulder City to pick up our mail. Jan got nice Mother’s Day cards from Brandi and Landon, and then she talked to Brandi on the way back to the RV park.

That’s about it for today. More tomorrow.

I’m reposted some of our trip to Ashville, NC in June 2009.

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Thought for the Day:

"I’m not insensitive, It’s probably that I just don’t care!"

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More Moose and Mountains…

Originally posted on June 23, 2009

Today was our last full day in Asheville and we had one more ‘touristy’ place we wanted to visit.

But before we headed down the road we stopped for lunch at our new favorite restaurant, the Moose Cafe.

There is kind of an interesting story about the large moose that greets you as you walk in the door.

They don’t really know who gave it to them. One day a stranger just showed up and asked them if they wanted it. Of course, they said ‘Yes’!

When we first walked in the door and saw the giant moose, I just looked over at Jan and said “No, you can’t have it”! I’d probably have to cut it in half to get it in the coach, and Jan already has her large moose footstool.

And another great meal was had. Jan had the Chicken Pot Pie with green beans and baby carrots, and I had the Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and sliced cantaloupe.

After lunch we traveled about 75 miles northeast to Grandfather Mountain. This is another one of those high, scary places that Jan really doesn’t like, but I drag her to anyway, usually by telling her there’s a gift shop involved.

But the scenery on the way there was great too. There are a lot of Christmas tree farms in the this area. In fact, pretty much around every curve is another hillside covered with trees.

But before I could Jan to the top of the mountain, I had to deliver on the gift shop. And I did it one better by also delivering…wild animals.

It was a twofer!

Along with the nature museum/gift shop about half way up the mountain, they also have a small animal habitat area, with bears, bald eagles, otters, cougars, and deer.

The bears were neat because you could buy bear food (Purina makes Bear Chow?) and feed the bears in their enclosures. And they seem to love it.

If you look closely in this next shot, you can see he’s almost got the pellet in his mouth.

Feed Me!!!!!

Here are some other pics.

Bald Eagle

River Otter

Cougar

Deer

After dragging Jan away from the animals and the gift shop, we headed another 1000 feet up the mountain to the top.

Grandfather Mountain is 5282 feet high with a 228 foot long swinging bridge crossing an 80 foot chasm between the two peaks.

It looks like this.

Mile High Swinging Bridge

This next picture shows the overall view of the bridge on the far left that leads to the peak toward the right.

This picture shows what it looks like back toward the bridge from the cliff edge.

There is not really a path from the bridge. You just walk/climb over the rocks.

And now for the amazing part. I got Jan across the bridge!!

I was really proud of her. I didn’t expect her to go the edge, so what she did do was great.

That’s Jan in green just to the right of the left hand vertical support.

And here’s a closeup.

And here we both are, thanks to a kind passerby.

Before we headed back to Asheville we stopped at local produce stand and bought some fresh peaches and tomatoes. As we left the stand Jan said she wanted to buy some day lilies as a gift and wanted to stop at a place nearby that we’d seen a sign for.

It turned out to be a private home surrounded by day lily beds. They even had their own bee hives for pollination.

They had 40 – 50 different varieties, including some rare ones that went for $30 – $40 a plant. They had so many it was hard to pick.

And here are some pictures.

By the time we drove the 75 miles back to our coach, it was almost 6:30 pm. And since we had to drive right by the Moose Cafe, it wasn’t a hard decision to also have supper there.

So we did.

Got up about 10:30 this morning, and after a Mother’s Day kiss for Jan, and coffee and a Cinnamon Crunch muffin for breakfast, I started my day.

Jan got Mother’s Day calls from our son Chris and our daughter Brandi so that made her day.

After working on some Internet jobs, I started on some more chores.

First up was to check the tire pressure in the driver’s side inside rear tire. Back in Show Low and Williams I was having trouble with the pressure dropping overnight. But now, suddenly, the problem has disappeared. Hopefully for good.

Next was the big window awning on the coach’s right side. It wouldn’t open when we got here, but getting out the ladder and fooling with it a little seems to have fixed it.

Then, last I wanted to repair the slide-out tray on my computer desk. The screws had pulled out on one side and needed to be replaced with larger ones. It took Jan’s help to hold it in place while I worked underneath with the drill driver, but a little effort got it fixed.

By then it was getting close to 3 pm when we headed out to the Mother’s Day Buffet at the Boulder Station Casino right down the road. We had about a 30 minute wait in line, but, as previously, the meal was delicious.

We got home a little after 5 to find the high winds had blown over our sat dish so that took a while to get set back up.

And the high winds were from the big weather changes we had the last few days. Three days ago we had a high of 98 degrees here in Las Vegas, and tomorrow the high is supposed to be 69 degrees.

Nice!

I’ve reposted our visit to the Lost in the Fifties Diner and Museum in St. Mary’s, OH.

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Thought for the Day:

Any man who thinks for a half second that he understands a woman, has his timing just about perfect.

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Lost in the Fifties, again…

Originally posted on October 8, 2009

The morning before we left Celina, OH, we went back to “Lost in the Fifties”, a restaurant in nearby St. Mary’s

But as I mentioned, this place also has a great 50’s memorabilia museum, with a lot of stuff that you don’t expect to find in a small town.

Like…

This was Elvis’ leathers and motorcycle used in his film “Roustabout”, filmed in 1964.

And…

This was one of the outfits that Elvis wore during his very last tour in June of 1977.

And here is the outfit that he wore for one of his album covers.

And this is the album cover.

And here is one of Elvis’ 3 pink Cadillac’s.

According to the placard, this was the 2nd one he bought. The first one was a 1954 model. Then he bought this one in 1955. But after driving it for a while he discovered it didn’t have air conditioning, so he traded it back to the dealer for one that did have AC.

The 3rd one is the one that’s on display at Graceland.

The only thing I can figure out is that he bought this one in the winter, and then didn’t try the AC until spring.

Here’s one of Elvis’ Army uniforms, complete with his Army Commendation Award papers and his promotion to Sergeant paperwork.

And the museum has other celebrity outfits too.

Here’s James Dean’s jacket from “Rebel Without A Cause”.

And here’s an outfit worn by Dale Evans.

And they even have their own Elvis.

This is Elvis Aaron Presley, Jr. And if you check out his link, you’ll find that he has been acknowledged as the son of Elvis Presley, both in Elvis’s will and a DNA test.

He’s performed all over the country, including Vegas. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see him though.

The museum has a number of exhibits, but I’ve just given you the highlights, but it’s a big place and very interesting to browse thru.

More tomorrow…

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